Mission & Identity

We are a UCC congregation in the heart of Washington, D.C., led by the Spirit and in covenant with God and each other. We seek to understand and experience God and respond to the call of Christ as reflected in our heritage and today’s experiences.

We welcome people of all ages, abilities, racial and cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities, and beliefs to share and grow in faith through worship, prayer, education, mutual support, and social action.

In so doing, by God’s grace, we nourish each other, embrace spiritual transformation, stand for justice and peace, and strive to heal our city, nation, and the world.

Read more about our church in the profile we wrote for our 2017 search for a senior pastor here.

At First Congregational United Church of Christ of Washington, DC we assert that community responsibilities and steadfast love balance autonomy and freedom. We affirm that faith and life are nourished by “covenants,” beginning with God’s covenant with Noah, Abraham, Moses, enriched by a new covenant in Jesus Christ, and sustained by mutual covenants we strive to keep with each other.

We have taken “stands” around specific issues. Founded in 1865 by abolitionists as the first racially integrated church in Washington, we have publicly sustained long standing commitments to racial justice. We are an “open and affirming church” (ONA), welcoming LGBTQ friends and supporting marriage equality. We are a “just peace church,” committed to peace with justice. We are a people aspiring to be a “multiracial, multicultural church,”celebrating diversity and building bridges in our diverse society.

Open and Affirming

In 1973, First Church voted to enter into covenant with, and serve as host church for the Washington Metropolitan Community Church or MCC (a church that ministers predominantly to the GLBT community). That decision cost us some members well before the wider religious community took on this issue. In 1987 we formally became an Open and Affirming (ONA) church in the United Church of Christ. Read our Open and Affirming Statement.

Just Peace Church

In 1985 First Church voted be a Just Peace Church, focusing on the ways justice and peace are related to a range of issues, such as political struggles in Latin America and South Africa, race relations in the U.S., struggles for economic justice, and arms control. Read our Statement on Being a Just Peace Church.